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Etymology and origin of the English word tar

Pronunciation

tar1 black sticky substance

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
700 before 700, Épinal Glossary
Inherited from
Old English teoru via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *terwą

Etymology

The substance is inherited from Middle English ter, later tarre,[2][1][3] inherited from Old English teoru, also teru,[4][5][2][6][7] from Proto-Germanic *terwą.[8] It is cognate with Old Frisian tera, Middle Low German tere, Middle Dutch tar, Dutch teer, German Teer and Old Norse tjara, whence Swedish tjära and Danish tjære.[2][4][9][6] The Germanic word is generally held to derive from the stem of tree, Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌿 (triu),[4][6][2][9] so that it first meant the pitch of certain trees, such as pines.[4][6][10] Watkins traces it to Proto-Indo-European *deru- (“be firm, solid; tree”),[5][11] and Klein compares Ancient Greek δόρυ (dóru, “beam, shaft of a spear”);[9] the OED also compares Latvian darva (“tar”).[4] The verb is terren,[5][2][12] from late Old English tirwan, to smear with tar,[5][7] formed from the noun.[5][4][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tar, resin or gum: Old English, in the Épinal Glossary,[4][7] before 700 in Barnhart.[2] Middle English has ter about 1250, in Genesis and Exodus, and tar before 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible.[2]

Semantic evolution

Old English teoru meant tar, resin or gum, and also ear wax.[7][14] Tar was used to ointment sheep, to caulk ships and as an incendiary;[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as liquid pitch, the turpentine of pine or fir drawn out by fire.[15] From 1747 the word was applied to natural substances like it, such as petroleum and bitumen,[4] and later to the residue of tobacco smoke.[13][12] In the 20th century it was a colloquial word for tarmac (1934)[4][13] and American slang for opium and later black heroin (1935).[4][13] The verb, to coat with tar, is recorded about 1250 in Barnhart and about 1300 in the OED, in Havelok.[2][4] Its figurative use, to taint or disgrace, appears before 1612, often in tarred with the same brush (or stick).[4][13] To tar and feather is first recorded in 1769, in a Boston newspaper;[4][5] the punishment was used by mobs in America during the Revolution, and Etymonline notes that an ordinance of Richard I (1189) already prescribed it.[5] To beat the tar out of someone is recorded from 1884.[4][5]

Timeline

  • before 700 – Old English teoru, tar.[2][4]
  • c. 1250 – Middle English ter; the verb terren.[2]
  • c. 1300 – to smear with tar.[4]
  • before 1382 – the form tar.[2]
  • before 1612 – figurative, to taint or defame.[4]
  • 1747 – natural substances like tar, such as petroleum.[4]
  • 1769 – to tar and feather.[4][5]
  • 1884 – to beat the tar out of.[4][5]
  • 1934 – tarmac, a tarred road.[4]
  • 1935 – US slang, opium; later black tar heroin.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A thick, dark, sticky liquid obtained by the destructive distillation of wood, coal, peat or other organic matter: They caulked the hull with pine tar.[16][12][4]
  2. Coal tar.[16]
  3. A similar dark residue formed in burning tobacco.[12][13]
  4. (colloquial) Tarmac, or a road surfaced with it.[4][13]
  5. (US slang) Heroin, especially black tar heroin; formerly opium.[4][13]

Verb

  1. To coat or cover with tar.[16][12][4]
  2. tar and feather: to smear someone with tar and cover them with feathers as a punishment.[16][4][13]
  3. To taint or smear someone's reputation;[12][4] tarred with the same brush: thought to have the same faults.[16][12][13][4]

Word family

  • tarry
  • tarpaper
  • tarpit
  • tarbrush
  • tarmac
  • tarmacadam
  • tarpaulin
  • tarweed

tar2 sailor

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1676 William Wycherley, The Plain-Dealer

Etymology

The sailor is probably a shortening of tarpaulin, which was a nickname for a sailor in the 1640s;[5][2][6][9][10][16][17] the OED calls it perhaps an abbreviation.[4] Etymonline and Barnhart also allow a special use of tar1, a staple aboard ships,[5][2] and Johnson derived it from the tar used in ships.[15] Weekley compares the earlier tar-breech and French cul goudronné (“tarred backside”).[18]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sailor: in Wycherley's The Plain-Dealer, 1676 in Barnhart and Green's Dictionary of Slang,[2][19] 1677 in the OED.[4]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart records tarpaulin as a nickname for a sailor from 1647.[2] The Dictionary of the Canting Crew (about 1698) glossed Tar, tarpaulin as a seaman,[19] and Johnson (1755) defined tar as a sailor, "a seaman in contempt".[15] Jack Tar is recorded from the 18th century.[6]

Timeline

  • 1647 – tarpaulin, a nickname for a sailor.[2]
  • 1676 – tar, a sailor.[2][19]
  • c. 1698 – Tar, tarpaulin, a seaman, in the Dictionary of the Canting Crew.[19]
  • 18th century – Jack Tar.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (informal, dated) A sailor or seaman: an old tar.[16][12][4]

Word family

  • Jack Tar

Usage notes

The verb tar on, to urge on or incite, as in Shakespeare's tarre on, has a separate source, Old English tergan (“to vex, provoke”).[4][13][12] In the Indian subcontinent tar is also a telegram,[4][13] a borrowing from Hindi in the OED[4] or, in the Shorter Oxford, from Persian and Urdu, where it means string or wire.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  15. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  17. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  18. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  19. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Tar.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/tar. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

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